Global creative agency VCCP has brought Zoë Bell and Gianmaria Schonlieb on board as group creative directors in the U.S. Based in New York, the pair will report to recently appointed chief creative officer Jed Grossman in their newly created roles.
“I’m so thrilled to work with Zoë and Gianmaria again. They are both incredible creative leaders that possess the vision and ambition it takes to build a modern creative company,” said Grossman. “At VCCP US, our goal is to create compelling work and meaningful relationships that embrace our challenger spirit. With Zoë and Gianmaria joining us, it’s exciting to think about where the future will go.”
Bell and Schonlieb will take charge on Nutribullet, Tate’s Bake Shop, Equinix, Google, and the Mark Anthony Group International portfolio, including White Claw, Mike Hard’s Lemonade, and new and exciting players in the ready-to-drink category like Lazy Pour and Two Hoots.
A strong strategic thinker and creative leader, Bell has over a decade’s experience at agencies including Arts and Letters, Digitas, and Publicis New York. Her creative work has pushed forward brands including American Express, Mondelez, Sephora, and, most recently, Google on a global scale.
“It’s a really exciting time for VCCP US and I can’t wait to help continue the momentum of growth as well as shape the future for this awesome agency,” said Bell. “Jed and team are building a really talented, creative team, and it’s an honor to come on board and be a part of that.”
Tapping into the brands’ ability to drive cultural relevance at the intersection of entertainment and pop culture, Schonlieb will build the agency’s day-to-day approach to social creative through new brand experiences, collaborations, and activations. Joining VCCP US from Lyft, where he most recently served as creative director–brand, entertainment, and culture, he has held creative roles at creative agencies including Wieden + Kennedy Portland and B-Reel.
“VCCP US has entered a stage of pure possibility, and I look forward to adding my touch to building and reimagining the agency,” said Schonlieb. “My motto is: ‘work with the rules of now to make work that works in the now.’ To me, that means listening to client needs and taking a flexible, innovative approach toward helping them achieve their goals in the context of current culture. It’s the right time in so many ways for the agency world to master this type of creativity, and VCCP is the perfect place to put it all into action.”
Maggie Smith, Star of Stage, Film and “Downton Abbey,” Dies At 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs. Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies. She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that "when you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything." Smith drily summarized her later roles as "a gallery of grotesques," including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: "Harry Potter is my pension." Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of "Suddenly Last Summer," said she was "intellectually the smartest actress I've ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith." "Jean Brodie," in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for "California Suite" in 1978, Golden Globes for "California Suite" and "Room with a View," and BAFTAs for lead actress in "A Private Function" in 1984, "A Room with a View" in... Read More